Today's notable quotes

"[The birth-certificate controversy] is the most idiotic issue I've seen in American politics. And it was just a crock of nonsense. I don't think the president should have done what he did yesterday."

"Let these people make fools of themselves. I think it's good for the country to see how many idiots there are out there."

"It's a good way to conduct an idiot census in America to see who all the birthers are. It was a good thing and working politically for [Donald Trump] because all of the Republicans that knew anything were trying to run away...and they couldn't get rid of it."

"I find Trump to be very entertaining. I'm kind of for him. I was for [Sarah] Palin, but she didn't want to talk enough. And then Newt [Gingrich] stopped talking, and then [Michele] Bachmann doesn't talk enough. I want more Trump. We ought to have him on TV every day." (James Carville, Democratic Party strategist)

"How did this poisonous and not-very-subtly racist allegation [that Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S.] get such a grip on our conservative movement and our Republican party?"

"[T]hose who imagine that they somehow enhance the value of [their own U.S.] citizenship by belittling the American-ness of their president -- they not only disgrace the politics they uphold, but they do damage that will not soon be forgotten by the voters a revived Republicanism must win." (David Frum, former speechwriter for Pres. George W. Bush)

"It is often easier to attack a person's character than it is to fight it out on the merits of his or her policies. And, as we've already seen, even with Obama's long-form birth certificate in the open, more questions will arise. But they aren't the questions we should be asking. The questions we should be asking are the tough questions: How do we create more jobs in America? How do we seize control of our spiraling deficits? How do we remain competitive as a nation in the century ahead? The conspiracy questions might be easier to ask, and they might score points for the people who ask them, but they don't score points for this republic.

"Like plenty of conspiracy theorists before them, the birthers have had their day in court. President Obama called their bluff and showed his cards, producing the documentation they requested.

"Now it is time for us to turn our attention back to the real questions that need answers. It's time to move on." (David Gergen, former advisor to U.S. presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton)